Natalya Ashton
Natalya Ashton was a character that began on the series, One Step at a Time, and she carried over to the series Smythewood, and to Harpers Falls. She was played on Smythewood and Harpers Falls by Vail Bloom, best known for her role of Heather Stevens on the Young and the Restless. She originated the role on One Step at a Time, while various other actresses have played her on OSAAT. She went on to Close to Home, where she was revealed to have been killed in a car accident. At Michael Harper's funeral, Bloom played Natalya's younger sister, Sarah. Michael's brief second wife A woman who always knew what she wanted, and is usually never proven wrong in her business and financial workings, Natalya Ashton shows herself to be a formidable person. If you are on her good side, then she is the best friend you could have, but cross her, then you are against one of the most powerful and deadliest adversaries of all time. Natalya was a member of one of the richest families in Hope Valley, New York; where they, along with the Manning family, (she is kind of friendly although she is also rivals with Joliette Manning) are the power families. Natalya was always at odds with her younger sister, Sarah. She was also close with her mother, Annie, until her mother's death. Her father, Marty Ashton, was notoriously unfaithful to her mother, and he had a son with his mistress, Natalya gets along with her half brother, although she and her father were still at odds up until his death. While she was living in Smythewood, Pennsylvania, (her closest and only friend was an old friend from Hope Valley, Jenna Roberts) she met up with Michael Harper, who at the time had just lost his first wife, Shelby Whitehead Harper to a murderer. She fell madly in love with the wealthy man, and she then dropped a rohypnol capsule in his drink. When he was knocked out, he would wind up in bed with Natalya. As she was pregnant at the time, she thought that the child was Michael's. Michael, wanting to do the right thing by Natalya, married her; and was with her when she gave birth to a son, whom she named Christopher Dylan (named after Sheila Harper Watkins's late brother, Christopher, and for Dylan Harper, whom Natalya always liked). They moved back to Brockton, where she met fierce resistance by the evil Erica Harper. Natalya and Erica could not stand the sight of one another, and Erica made no bones about it. This kind of led up to her campaign over everyone whom was married into the Harper family. This also led up to Erica eventually being banished from the family. On the other hand, Natalya felt that she had tricked Michael into marriage. She talked with Michael and quietly annulled the marriage. She then left with Christopher (who was eventually revealed to be the son of a man who had raped her) to go back to Hope Valley, New York and then on to New York City, where she was the host of a talk show. She still kept in touch with the Harpers. Sadly, though, Natalya was killed in New York in a car-pedestrian accident. Christopher, her son, and now the beneficiary of the funds his mother received from Michael's will, is now living with his aunt, Sarah. Sarah has become more of a mother to him. In fact it was Sarah who had attended the funeral, and was named in Michael's will, along with her nephew. Recently, it was revealed (on the TOPtv series, Riverview), that Christopher's father was a man named Brad Diedrick, a man Natalya had met after her annulment. Christopher is now living with his father, and his aunt Sarah in Riverview, Montana, with Brad and Sarah working on him being adopted as their child. However, Natalya's name lives on.......in the recently born daughter of Wendy Harper, Alexandra Natalya Harper. Natalya is remembered in Aly's middle name. Category:Characters Category:Characters married into the Harper family Category:Former Smythewood characters